Thames Bridges
mtb-idle
Posts: 2,179
I've been thinking about whether to post this here for a short while as I wasn't sure it would qualify as a tour or expedition but here goes. Hopefully it is of interest to some of you.
Last Saturday 21st September in possibly the last decent riding weather of the year, together with three riding buddies I undertook a 'bridges of London' ride.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ucrsrFaiq ... ejk3s8f58m
From Hampton Court in the West to Tower Bridge in the East we crossed 24 different bridges including riding Kingston and London Bridge twice as well as another couple of bridges that are lost in the haze now making it 24 bridges and 28 crossings.
This included little known (to me) bridges such as the Barnes footbridge as well as very well known but perhaps not often ridden bridges such as the Millennium (bouncy) bridge. Don't worry folks, we walked it.
One bridge was closed for refurbishment and so we couldn't cross that one.
A slow average speed as despite being ably guided around there was lots of stopping for pictures, pedestrians on towpaths and steps, lots of steps.
But it was a great laugh and lots of coffee was consumed along the route as well as beers at the finish.
A superb day riding with good mates.
You may have spotted from my other posts that I like to shoot and edit GoPro footage to remind me of these kind of days out so here's the inevitable video:
One More Bridge to Cross (best viewed with sound)
So was circa 50 km ride (doubled up to 100 km including riding to start point and back from finish) really a tour or an expedition? Probably not. However the plan next year is to ride these bridges in reverse but to keep going beyond Hampton Court and cross every bridge back to the source of the Thames in Gloucestershire.
I think we could justifiably exclude the footbridges this time although we may need some kind of ruling on that.
That sounds a bit more worthy of expedition status and something that would keep us busy over the forthcoming long winter nights planning a good route.
Has anyone ridden or even thought of doing something similar?
Last Saturday 21st September in possibly the last decent riding weather of the year, together with three riding buddies I undertook a 'bridges of London' ride.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ucrsrFaiq ... ejk3s8f58m
From Hampton Court in the West to Tower Bridge in the East we crossed 24 different bridges including riding Kingston and London Bridge twice as well as another couple of bridges that are lost in the haze now making it 24 bridges and 28 crossings.
This included little known (to me) bridges such as the Barnes footbridge as well as very well known but perhaps not often ridden bridges such as the Millennium (bouncy) bridge. Don't worry folks, we walked it.
One bridge was closed for refurbishment and so we couldn't cross that one.
A slow average speed as despite being ably guided around there was lots of stopping for pictures, pedestrians on towpaths and steps, lots of steps.
But it was a great laugh and lots of coffee was consumed along the route as well as beers at the finish.
A superb day riding with good mates.
You may have spotted from my other posts that I like to shoot and edit GoPro footage to remind me of these kind of days out so here's the inevitable video:
One More Bridge to Cross (best viewed with sound)
So was circa 50 km ride (doubled up to 100 km including riding to start point and back from finish) really a tour or an expedition? Probably not. However the plan next year is to ride these bridges in reverse but to keep going beyond Hampton Court and cross every bridge back to the source of the Thames in Gloucestershire.
I think we could justifiably exclude the footbridges this time although we may need some kind of ruling on that.
That sounds a bit more worthy of expedition status and something that would keep us busy over the forthcoming long winter nights planning a good route.
Has anyone ridden or even thought of doing something similar?
FCN = 4
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Comments
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i did that exact same ride one week after I rode to every football ground in London a few years ago.
General conclusion was that bridges tend to be in nice places and football grounds the very worst.
Both quite fun in their own ways.0 -
Ha, football grounds sounds good. As a Chelsea fan I'm already aware that Chelsea is the only place in London that you would choose to go to for a day out without the football (and given that Stamford Bridge is actually in Fulham i suppose we have to include them too). All the other grounds are places you would avoid.
Another potential route a colleague suggested and actually mapped out is one that goes past all the tube stations on the standard tube map. It looks okay route wise i.e. rideable without backtracking too much but at 296 miles from Amersham in the West to Hornchurch in the East is a massive undertaking.FCN = 40 -
Thats a big one.
this was the football grounds write up: http://thatbloodybike.com/2016/02/23/cy ... l-grounds/0 -
Nice article.
I rode a "lap of the M25"* a few years ago. 250km/12 hours. That also shows you quite a few holes in and around town and makes me glad I'm Surrey based.
*Obvs you can't cycle on the M25 but my mate had pulled a route together that weaved in and out of the M25 with a few minor exceptions e.g. we headed as far east as Gravesend to catch the Tilbury ferry rather than wait for a man who may or may not have a truck and a trailer to take you under the Dartford tunnel.
I had never visited either of these places in my over half a century on the planet living a relatively short hop away from them and I don't think I shall ever bother going there again...FCN = 40
